News Events around the George Floyd protests and riots, US and beyond

[TruthSeeker]

I haven't yet, but it is on my list to watch. Thanks for the recommendation!



I'm actually not sure you can assume that "racist white people" is what is meant by that statement. I know people who believe it is ALL. Countering with "Not all white people" is not helpful, I agree.

I hear what you're saying here, but I still have a huge problem with generalizations. What about the white people who say "black people are Xyz"? It's completely unacceptable and usually not coming from a perspective of "trauma."

I think what I find most disturbing is the perceived inappropriateness of asking questions or asking for clarification of something. It has gotten to the point where it's very clearly "our side or theirs" and if you aren't on "ours" you must be on "theirs."

I notice. And I thank them every single time I get a chance. I get pulled over. I am respectful. I say "yes sir", "no sir", "yes ma'am", "no ma'am". And I thank them, even after getting a speeding (or whatever) ticket. Hoping that they notice that it's for the job they do cause I recongize how hard that is and what they are sacrificing.

Can't imagine working as policeman.......they are special folks who choose to protect us...

 

[whiteraven]

t also creates a difficult space for the people around me to have a balanced and productive conversation if I bring trauma-biased black/white, all/nothing statements into an open discussion about an issue that isn't about me and my personal traumatic experience.

When I'm bringing my personal trauma bias into a conversation that isn't about me and my trauma, it's both helpful and healthy for someone to tap me on the shoulder and say, "Yo, Sideways, maybe you're thinking isn't totally straight on this issue right now". JMHO.

Thank you. Yes.

 

[Mach123]

Two wrongs don’t make a right, they used to say. That’s what I have to say about this. Thats not to say it’s over now, because the genie is out of the bottle. It’s happened before. That was then. What happens now? Nobody knows.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

"Yo, Sideways, maybe you're thinking isn't totally straight on this issue right now"

Yep! This has totally been helpful for me as well! Yeah, maybe a bit response at first but this has always been more helpful then the opposite.

And maybe it's just me but if people agree with my distorted thinking, it becomes more engrained in me and harder to change in the future. Thus why I've been in therapy for over 10 yrs. Everyone nodding and agreeing to avoid arguing with me about it. It really does harm to me to do that.

To reflect inward of my own thinking and how it could be flawed has always helped in the long run even if there is a reaction at first.

 

[user27357]

I am hearing reports of peaceful protesters taking control of the situation when someone throws a rock or a brick at the cops. It gives me hope. I want the nation to realize that police racism and brutality is a real thing, but no one is going to hear that message when the news is all about looting and police retaliation. it has to start somewhere and if it starts with five big peaceful protesters picking up and delivering some spraypainting rock-throwing riot starter to the police, that's where it starts. This is getting hopeful folks, good!

 

[joeylittle]

This comic is a good illustration

(please....click on the link)

Saying Black Lives Matter is segregationist is very much like saying "support breast cancer research" is doing damage to research on the other cancers.

Honestly - I used to think that All Lives Matter would be a better, more apt battle cry. That was until I saw some actual racists exercising their actual racism on actual people. On actual Black people.

I've seen it impact all sorts of races and ethnicities, now....and the truth is - it's not even the same. The racism my friend's Korean husband gets is different from the racism my friend from Mexico gets. And my Black friends and co-workers, they get it differently too.

Me? I'm white. So no way in hell am I going to tell any Black person in America that BLM is too isolationist, too confrontational...that we, the white majority, are feeling left out.

If you think it's wrong to say Black Lives Matter - because it somehow implies that Black lives matter more than other lives - then it's pretty safe to say, your assumption indicates at best your myopia, and at worst, your unconscious (or conscious) fear of Black people. And that is what is segregationist.

 

[blackemerald1]

Is not an indication that people across the US don't GAF about the fact that cops go out and put their lives on the line to keep people safe every day of the week. That you can, anytime, simply call 911 and expect help.

^With respect. Don't agree. Everyone likes Justice until it's metered out to them. :oops:

The general citizen usually in the course of their lives rarely has anything to do with the police and nor should they. Perhaps if the police are doing non-traditional police activities maybe some people will get to see briefly, something a police officer does outside of their normal duties but that's not the police doing the bread n butter stuff.

Most people don't really have a complete appreciation that every. single. day an operational police officer is putting their life on the line. It might rightly be argued that they don't have to either. So we are heading in the direction of nobody can know what it's like to be black unless they're black? What do you say when a black police officer harms a black civilian then?

I'm not sure that assumption is accurate. For a small majority? Sure.

^Hmm.. What is a small majority? I gather we are not talking about Governments that win the power to govern without a majority?

But I think most people have a very deep respect for police and first responders and what they do. Do they understand just how tough it is? Nup, no clue.

^Your conclusion re do they understand how tough it is... that's the bit that is important. If you don't know something, you cannot have an appreciation for what you don't know. Sure, when a cop gets killed, maimed etc it's news for five seconds. It's almost become a matter of natural attrition rather than it being a symptom of something much worse going on in society.

The problem with these protests now is that the message is getting lost in the shouting. People of all kind, are switching off. I fear the opportunity for progress has been lost again.

 

[Freida]

@Sideways @lostforgottensoul you are both right and it kind of made me have to laugh at myself because I was doing the same thing the people in fussing about were doing - just backwards!

It's the 80/20 thing. I know there are people that support LE, but my experience is with the ones who don't do that's my focus. Oops!

With your experience, why did George Floyd die? Why

My opinion? He died because of someone who should never have been in a position of power. There is no excuse for it. Period. It was a power play by a bad cop.

He was arrested for trying to pass a fake $20 bill. Plus he was on meth and fentynal so he was acting odd and freaked out the clerk. I'm not sure if the officers knew he was a career criminal when they arrested him
however none of that should have ended in his death.

My heart also goes out to the two rookies that were with him. One actually pointed out he was hurting George and was told to STFU. Rookies don't question. So they have lost their careers and are facing charges because they were in an impossible situation.

 

[Sideways]

What is a small majority?

:facepalm: I edited that post sooo many times to try and make sure it wasn't confrontational. 'Small majority' doesn't even make any sense - meant to say 'small minority'. Think the point was made:)

Most people don't really have a complete appreciation that every. single. day an operational police officer is putting their life on the line

We don't disagree here. But definitely different communities, and different sections of the community, have vastly different frequency and type of interaction with police.

Me personally now? It's rare - couple of times a year maybe. But it certainly hasn't always been rare, as I've moved through different parts of the country, and even different parts of a single city.

Sure, when a cop gets killed, maimed etc it's news for five seconds

So, we'll have to agree to disagree here. Because to the best of my knowledge, the last police officer to die in thr line of duty in our state was [details edited out - felt a bit disrespectful in the context. Suffice to say it was back in 2017, it very definitely wasn't just a 5 second slot, because it was quite a traumatic situation].

So, I guess it depends what news you follow, and how much attention you give the issue.

 

[blackemerald1]

This is semantics.

^I have to disagree. And even if you do think I'm being picky about the language that is used it's cos that's all we've got. Language.

We have to be careful that we say what we mean and make sure we are as consistently accurate as possible. There's too much at stake, even in a discussion here. It's like tonight I heard a woman say that she expects she'll suffer from a 'little bit of ptsd'. hmm.. is that the same as being 'a little bit pregnant' - :hilarious: Like one either is dx with it or not.

I'm well aware of the different contexts the word riot might be applied to. Obviously so are you. And you go on to give examples. I think you drove home my point even further. When it comes to civil disobedience, mob mentality, civilian protests - riot has a specific meaning - and we know what the context was you wrote it in and I responded to. :)

On this forum a lot of the time we all struggle to explain or describe what we're feeling or what we mean. I think generally, we all accept that words can have many meanings and we interchange them in our efforts to reach understanding.

the calls that come after involve the word riot and riot gear is worn, sure.

^Who makes the initial calls? More often than not a civilian or at least someone who is panicked makes the calls? The media will never miss a moment to escalate a peaceful protest into a riot. :rolleyes:

really big bar fight and an English soccer match.

^Really? But burning cars, shops, looting, injury and death amounts to more than ^^ that.

15 people killed. I would consider those riots. Businesses destroyed. Arson. Violence. Looting. MURDER.

^Completely agree.

make sure it wasn't confrontational. '

^I wasn't confronted. :cautious:

 

[Sideways]

I wasn't confronted.

This has got to be a cultural/Aussie thing, right?

The media today reported there were complaints against the Sydney police officers who ended up using pepper spray to disperse a crowd at Central Station who didn't want to go home after the protests. They had guns, they had tasers. But this is Australia, and they were wearing baseball caps (instead of riot gear) and used...pepper spray. And there's been complaints!

Of the 3 people arrested (out of tens of thousands of protesters), at least one has already been released without charge.

Confrontation isn't our strong suit perhaps! Safe to say that the various comments throughout the thread about people being so on edge about traffic stops in the US - that highlighted the degree of difference for me.

Worst thing I ever got pulled over for was driving the wrong way down a one way street. And the whole thing went so smoothly that me and the cop wound up with the hood of my car up and him giving me some maintenance tips!! It hadn't occurred to me to that a routine traffic stop would be something to be nervous about.

But, I'm also aware of my 'whiteness' there. Because I know that when I lived in a different part of my current city? It wasn't uncommon to see a bunch of Indigenous teens get stopped by the cops for doing nothing more than hanging out the front of our apartment complex. And whilst we can be proud of being home to the oldest living culture on earth, the Australian Bureau of Stats apparently reports those same people being the most highly incarcerated people on earth.

So, a lot of different perspectives.

Gotta say, though, @joeylittle - I think by this point, there's so much information readily available about what the slogan "Black Lives Matter" actually means, that it's wilful ignorance, or actively choosing to disregard the ample explanations available, at best, for people to continue insisting that it's a segregational phrase, and that "All lives matter" is more appropriate, or adequately addresses issues of racial inequality.

 

[Ronin]

Yep @joeylittle to your point that racism aimed at Black people - and blackness itself - is also different.

That's why the term antiBlack racism (& shadism) is specifically used, as is misogynoir (at Black feminine or perceived as feminine people / women, regardless of actual identification or sex assigned at birth.)

They're a different axis of racism and research & discussions on race in academia usually well recognize them as an own thing, with different depths and some driving mechanisms rooted in other causes and perceptions, historically, than 'the rest of' racism.

Thanks for bringing that up. :tup: